Have I been at this too long if I think the nicest touch on the whole board is those power and reset buttons? I'd buy just those if they'd work on other boards.

My Asus ROG-GeneZ has them, seems to be an enthusiast touch on many boards lately.

Yeah. It was my favorite thing about my Gigabyte ud3h. Once I figured out what the button was. Gone are the days of trying to figure out whether the problem is the case power button, the wiring or the board. I won't even consider a board that doesn't have a power button on it (reset is optional).

We're utilizing two Aquacomputer Aqualis 450ml Reservoirs from Frozencpu. (approx. 80 x 80 x 170 mm) These measure 70mm in diameter and made from Borosilicate glass, so they're scratch resistant! There is no color absorption in this glass, so dye colors look more vibrant.

The Aqua Computer Aqualis Reservoirs are supported by 1" thick aluminum post attached to the floor and 3/16" plate attached to side of the Bluray drive....

the 1" thick aluminum support post was added, after the concept drawing above... we predicted the bluray would never support the weight of the reservoirs

The Ameritool gas charged lift spring is installed, and WORKS PERFECT. Thanks to Cheapskate and all of his help in revising everything.

I made the decision to add assist spring as SAFETY measure and as secondary assist in supporting weight of the 8.5 pound cover. It will also help extend lifespan of electric firgelli actuator and prevent cover from slamming shut, in case the actuator ever needed to be removed for replacement, or failed for some reason.

Thank gawd, we didnt have to do another fit revision for the 780s...and since Frozen is a retailer, they're always looking at the latest and greatest, and since they sell gpu waterblocks, just focusing on next wave of blocks for the 780... I call it "chasing the dragon"... and happy to say I'm down to the last detail no my end, getting the pcb board from Vern, for programming the linear arm start and stop, otherwise I've been really busy with other things, including the podcast we started, I'm starting to feel like a "Stretch Armstrong" doll...lol.

Hey everyone, just a small update. I'm waiting for hardware and custom sleeved PSU cables to arrive from frozencpu. Evga has informed us the X79 Dark should be ready sometime this month.

I realized something disappointing this week with the Firgelli actuator. It's Black threaded fastener connector / cap was casted in hollow plastic, not solid. I was closing the cover and the cap snapped. We're now making a replacement from solid aluminum. I'm glad I made this discovery before the Tech Station was shipped to FrozenCPU.

broken cap pictured in two pieces, alongside another actuator arm with cap inserted

Definitely something to worry about, since it's supposed to be a load bearing component, sheesh.

I know it's glib/unsavvy to ask 'how much would such a thing cost', but I'll risk the public shoutdown -- how much would your Aluminium PC Tech Station case (just the case and the cooling, not the motherboard + graphics cards overkill) set back a 'normal' person, paying standard commercial rates for such a product?

I'd have to guess it's hundreds of hours, at $$ per hour, so $$,$$$ ?

Keep on with the good work -- always fascinating to watch the builds unfold in the thread images.

@Dac, I was really disappointed by that discovery and I can't share that info, sorry, but I do appreciate your interest, Thank you!!

@Krutawn, sorry for lack of updates lately, but do have one to share today

Vern Gibson aka "Twizted" posted video of the custom PCB control board he created for Firgelli's PCB board, so we can power the actuator without power to the PC. (Linear actuator opens and closes the top cover) Vern's PCB board is programmed to open and close the actuator to specified positions. Operator must press and hold both Bulgin switches at same time, in order for the cover to close, for safety.

To Open: Push either of the two Bulgin Vandal SwitchesTo Close: Press and hold both Bulgin switches

My friend Jesse thought it would be good idea to post video clip of the cover opening, so I recorded different angles before leaving last night. Here are the screen shots, until I get caught up with other "video editing" obligations.

Sorry about the wait on things, but just got word today, finally... that Evga's X79 Dark is scheduled to be shipping week beginning August 5th ....The FrozenCPU will be using Evga's new X79 Dark motherboard, socket LGA 2011 with X79 chipset for upcoming Sandy Bridge-E processors. It will have eight DDR3 slots to supports up to 64 GB. 5, PCI-E 3.0 x 16 slots and single PCI-E x 4 slots. 10 SATA ports and EVBot connector and Power On/Off and Reset switches. Dual Intel Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth two and 7.1-channel audio.

still waiting on everything to arrive, but EVGA 780 GTX gpu arrived from frozen, along with EK-FC Titan SE blocks for nvidia reference NVA-P2083, Geforce GTX Titan and 780 series ...and EK backplates... Jesse and I installed them

Those acrylic waterblocks and back plates are incredible. Can't wait to see what this looks like with the components assembled. I'd love to have something like this, but I'm guessing with all the hours of work involved that this thing is worth the price of a small car...

I've never been a fan of watercooling, since extreme overclocking or extreme quiet have never been high on my priority list (plus can't get over the willies of putting water in my PC case), but those waterblocks... that's tempting to install.